North Korea is reportedly sending tens of thousands of workers to Russia to help produce attack drones, learn how to use them, and support reconstruction work in the Kursk region. The claims reinforce what the head of Ukraine’s spy agency told us in a recent exclusive interview about the growing cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow, which you can read here.
These moves will affect the security situation on two continents, Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR), told us. The drones will give Kim Jong Un additional capability to overwhelm air defenses and strike anywhere in South Korea, in mass. As for Russia, not only does it boost its drone arsenal, but it helps back-fill tremendous personnel losses incurred during its bloody, grinding war against Ukraine. This exchange follows the deployment of more than 11,000 North Korean troops to Russia last October to help defend the Kursk region, which we were the first to report.
“A total of 25,000 workers from North Korea are to be dispatched” to the “Russian Shahed factory in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone of the central Russian republic of Tatarstan,” the Japanese NKH news outlet reported, citing “diplomatic sources in the West and Russia.”
North Korea is reportedly considering sending 25,000 workers to Russia’s Alabuga Special Economic Zone, the main hub for Shahed-136 and reconnaissance drone production, according to Japan’s NHK, citing Western and Russian diplomatic sources.
The goal is to “boost production in exchange for training in how to operate the unmanned aircraft,” the publication explained. As we previously reported, Russia’s Alabuga factory — using designs provided by Iran — is now building about 2,000 per month, with plans to increase that to 5,000 per month.
Earlier this week, a satellite image was posted on the Ukrainian Dnipro Official Telegram channel claiming to show a roughly 340-acre expansion of Alabuga to accommodate an influx of new workers. The image appears to show the construction of new dormitories to house additional personnel.
“A typical housing scheme for foreign workers in the Alabuga industrial agglomeration consists of two-story dormitories with rooms for four people and shared showers and restrooms,” the Ukrainian Militarnyi news outlet reported. “From the windows, it can be estimated that each building consists of 64 rooms and can accommodate up to 256 people.”
“The Russians are increasing the pace of production of Shaheds and are not going to stop,” Dnipro Official posited.
The Ukrainian Dnipro OSINT Telegram channel said this satellite image shows the construction of new dormitories at Russia’s Alabuga drone factory for additional workers. (Dnipro OSINT)
Shahed drones have become by far Russia’s main standoff weapons, used to cause widespread damage across Ukraine. Initially made by Iran, they first appeared on the battlefield for Russia in September 2022 and have been frequently improved on since.
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Video of a direct hit by a Shahed-type UAV on a residential high-rise building in Kyiv. This is clearly a deliberate targeted attack!
And how is this different from September 11 in the USA? We have this every day! Finally recognize Russia as a terrorist state!
More recently, Russia has apparently added larger warheads and equipment giving some of these weapons a degree of autonomy adding to the danger to Ukraine.
A Russian “Shahed-136” long-range kamikaze UAV with a camera and a Nvidia Jetson AI development module that could allow some autonomy was recovered. The UAV also had a radio modem allowing direct operator control up to 150km, or more with repeaters. 1/ https://t.co/O0dot3SW5Fpic.twitter.com/9KWg1TzfLG
Overnight, Russia launched “104 Shahed-type strike UAVs and simulator drones [decoys] of various types” at Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
A fire broke out after a Russian drone attack in Dnipro, Ukraine. (Photo by Arsen Dzodzaiev/Anadolu via Getty Images) Anadolu
As a result the damage inflicted by Shaheds, the Alabuga factory has been a frequent target of Ukrainian drone attacks. The most recent, which happened June 15, occurred when Ukraine reportedly conducted a unique drone strike on Alabuga.
“…units of the Special Operations Forces (SSO), in cooperation with other components of the Defense Forces, struck a key facility of the Russian aggressor’s military-industrial complex,” the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff said of the attack.
Ukrainian and Russian sources report that the attack was carried out by an explosive-packed Aeroprakt A-22, light aircraft converted to a drone. What made this different is that the A-22 was towing an explosive-laden glider. Removing the pilot from the glider increases its payload to more than 220 pounds, according to Ukrainian journalist Sergey Bratchuk. In addition, the configuration allows two targets to be hit at the same time, he noted. As we wrote about at the time, Alabuga was attacked in April 2024 by an A-22.
bratchuk
In addition to sending people to work on the drone program, North Korea is also providing Russia with several thousand workers who will help rebuild the Kursk region, Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu announced after his recent trip to Pyongyang. Shoigu said that includes about 1,000 sappers to work on demining and about 5,000 workers to assist with “the restoration of destroyed infrastructure facilities.”
Kursk, where fierce fighting continues, was invaded by Ukraine in a surprise attack on Aug. 6, 2024. While Russia has recaptured nearly all the territory it lost, the battles continue, and the damage has been severe.
A view of damage in the Kursk Oblast city of Lgov after a Ukrainian attack. (Photo by Vladimir Aleksandrov/Anadolu via Getty Images) Anadolu
In an interview we published June 9, Budanov told us that Russia was working to help North Korea develop its drone programs and that Pyongyang would send additional workers to help Russia.
“[There are] agreements on the beginning of the creation of capabilities to produce UAVs of the Garpiya and Geran [the Russian version of Iranian Shahed-136 drones] types on the territory of North Korea,” he told us. “It will for sure bring changes in the military balance in the region between North Korea and South Korea.”
A look inside the Russian factory where licensed production of the Iranian Shahed-series one-way attack drone is taking place. (Via X)
As for the workers, Budanov accurately assessed that Shoigu would strike a deal with Kim to bring them to Russia.
“And there he, among other things, agreed on the beginning of work of so-called labor migrants on the territory of Russia in order to partially replace the labor migrants from Central Asia that they consider as not stable for their state and vulnerable to recruitment by our special services and Western ones,” Budanov posited. “But there is a big probability that people among this labor migrant, they will start to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense of Russia. And it wouldn’t be the warriors from North Korea. It would be Russian warriors, but of North Korean nationality.”
In addition to these predictions, Budanov also told us what Russia provided to North Korea.
Russia, he said, helped North Korea drastically increase the accuracy of the KN-23 ballistic missiles it received. Moscow, Budanov added, also helped modernize North Korea’s long-range air-to-air missiles as well as its nuclear submarines and their missile-launching capabilities.
If this all comes to pass, it will be very good news for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is showing few tangible signs that he wants to end this conflict, now in its fourth year. At the same time, it will be very bad for Ukraine, which has to face increasing numbers of Shaheds, putting their counter-air munitions stockpiles under even more pressure than they already are.
